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Originally posted by KingofHartzWe choose what to fill our minds with, sadly next statement makes for a case against violent movies and games.... When you fill your mind with the violent or sexual thoughts, you want to make them a reality. Most of us can differentiate between right and wrong and it stops there. Some of us can't though. It doesnt have to be extreme either. I know on a day im filling my mind with hate and violence and been exposed to the sexual nature of these games, I tend to lose my ability to focus and make radical statements even on thses forums. Whats to stop the next guy from taking it further and the next even further....

The police, vigilantes, and orderlies with giant butterfly nets.

There are plenty of crazy people out there and they will do crazy things one way or another. Everytime there is some sort of shooting there is a public outcry to ban guns, at least for a while. Sometimes they try to go after video games for a while too. No one ever seems to want to talk about the source of the problem. Better access to mental health treatment for the people that need it is the only real solution.

Are you a Pavlovian Fish Biscuit Addict? Get Help Now!I will play no more MMORPGs until somethign good comes out!

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[mod edit]

I angered the clerk in a clothing shop today. She asked me what size I was and I said actual, because I am not to scale. I like vending machines 'cause snacks are better when they fall. If I buy a candy bar at a store, oftentimes, I will drop it... so that it achieves its maximum flavor potential. --Mitch Hedberg

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I forget the exact number but there's something like 200 million more men than women in China (or some crazy number like that) and China is an increasing market - so - i think people are barking at the moon here.

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Originally posted by MurlockDance

Originally posted by Talonsin

Lets be honest, almost every game uses ads with chicks showing clevage. Look at the Neverwinter or STO ads from Cryptic. Those pictures dont even have anything to do with the game. AoC had naked boobs, Mortal Online has penis. This is the road we are on and I would not be surprised to see a mainstream MMO focused on Sex in the next decade with full frontal nudity and achievements for shagging your friends.

(No, Sexcraft is NOT a mainstream MMO)

If it were more equal across the board, I would be fine with nudity/sex in video games, but there is no way anyone is going to convince me that it isn't heavily slanted towards male gratification and that to me is very much a big problem.

So, by your own admission, objectification is not actually a problem, just the percentages given the demographics the games are designed for. Got it - whatever males want is bad.

Feminists have been demonizing everything male, and every biologically or culturally masculine trait, for decades. Whatever men want or like is labelled as bad, inherently misogynistic, etc. Demanding that everything be changed to suit one gender, often at the expense of the other, just isn't fair, and it's not equality.

How many ads of these Asian games have been very questionable: the women have big doe-like eyes and therefore at some level look "innocent" in their body language, yet their body shape, their position in the ad, their clothing, etc. quite clearly is meant to make them look like objects of sexual desire ? This is a paradox and I don't really think this is very healthy at all. Sure, these women might actually be girls of high school age and we can say that a lot of the audience of these games are teenage boys, but we have to remember that they are not the only ones playing these games.

We also have to remember that women are not the only one playing these games, which is a point those decrying sexism seem to miss. The hypocrisy here is that women complain about the one-sidedness of design, and yet are advocating more one-sidedness, the only difference is that they demand to be in control it.

In this game, the characters are quite clearly women, but the artists are going the route that comic strip artists have gone in with objectifying the sexual aspects of a woman's body to the point that they are hypersexualized.

Men are not shown like this. Sure you might have brawny Terminator-types, and some might even wear loinclothes, but it is very rare and usually not in a sexual context. They are usually shown in a context of conquest, strength, aggression, and battle. And furthermore, these male images are considered by Western culture at least to be very positive, whereas the more subservient, hypersexualized portrayal of women is yes, desirable to at least some elements, but is also tinged with negativity.

People see what they want to see, and have largely been conditioned to see "sexism" against women, and fail to see the same "sexism" against men, even in cases that are pretty much identical. Whether you "see" it or not, many games sexualize men in the way models are designed as well. The attributes that focus on strength and powerful appearance ARE the sexual idealization for men.

This is not the same as where in AoC, MO and even AO to a point you have naked people in general or you have sexier clothes for male characters too, not just for female characters. I actually like that sort of freedom and I wish more devs would go that route than forcing hypersexualized females down our throats and men who are usually quite the opposite (borderline asexual, I mean in most games the male characters don't even have a package).

Much of this is the style of the genre, which is done in part ot meet the expectations of those people looking to play within that genre. Stereotypes are often used to do that. Did you notice that most of the mobs that are murdered by the millions in videogames are male? That's a stereotype as well - males are disposable, and are the norm for being murdered, no one gives it a second thought.

My answers above in yellow.

Other than that, the self-righteousness of this article is amusing. Take a look at the advertising history of this web site. Remember the Evony ads? The AoC ads? The recent RIFT ads?

There's currently an ad on this site for Granado Espada, featuring a woman with very large breasts, that fades in along with the caption "Explore Adventures of EPIC proportions."

Or the Sevencore ad featuring a very curvy women bent over, back arched, etc.

Or the large-breasted woman in the Neverwinter ad.

Sex sells. Ads and games are designed to appeal to certain demographics. If it doesn't appeal to someone, don't play it, or don't buy it. It's arrogant to think that everything must be designed to appeal to "me", or it's evil.

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Other than that, the self-righteousness of this article is amusing. Take a look at the advertising history of this web site. Remember the Evony ads? The AoC ads? The recent RIFT ads?

There's currently an ad on this site for Granado Espada, featuring a woman with very large breasts, that fades in along with the caption "Explore Adventures of EPIC proportions."

Or the Sevencore ad featuring a very curvy women bent over, back arched, etc.

Or the large-breasted woman in the Neverwinter ad.

Sex sells. Ads and games are designed to appeal to certain demographics. If it doesn't appeal to someone, don't play it, or don't buy it. It's arrogant to think that everything must be designed to appeal to "me", or it's evil.

This is as close to a tabloid "news" site as you'll find in the gaming industry. Don't expect them to have standards or think hypocrocy is wrong. Hell they used to talk about supporting the health of the mmo indsutry while running gold selling and power lvling web ads.

Ever notice how these "news" articals seem to show up after a few rather long and heated threads get going on their forums. Then all of those threads start getting locked directing everyone into these ones. That's not keeping up with what's current in the industry, it's Jerry Springer day time TV.

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Originally posted by bbbb42This game looks the same as tera, except without the pedophile little girl avatars. You guys did not say jack squat about tera's extremely over sexualized avatars, so why you dissing thise game?

actually that was one of the top most talked about subjects when the game was coming out...

I angered the clerk in a clothing shop today. She asked me what size I was and I said actual, because I am not to scale. I like vending machines 'cause snacks are better when they fall. If I buy a candy bar at a store, oftentimes, I will drop it... so that it achieves its maximum flavor potential. --Mitch Hedberg

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I do agree with you 100% Bill. But I do feel compelled to give them a point or 2 for honesty (bringing their total score up to negative 13.)

What honesty you say? They are advertising and delivering what many other Eastern MMOs (I'm loking at you Tera) simply try to sneak in to the genre with a nudge and a wink... I dislike that even more than this blatant sexploitation.

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I still dont see what the problem with this game is. If you dont like it, dont play it. It just seems some people are trying to force their morals and beliefs upon others which in my eyes is oppression, plain and simple.

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Originally posted by birdycephonI still dont see what the problem with this game is. If you dont like it, dont play it. It just seems some people are trying to force their morals and beliefs upon others which in my eyes is oppression, plain and simple.

Maybe others are talking about morals. I'm not. This is just cheap money for sex disguised as an MMO. It cheapens the genre.

A market for porn--cartoon or not--exists and forms a huge portion of internet traffic. I don't think Bill is concerned with putting an end to that like some oppressive religious zealots are. What I dislike about this game is the sale of cartoon nudity as an MMO poluting the MMO genre.

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Originally posted by Iselin

Originally posted by birdycephonI still dont see what the problem with this game is. If you dont like it, dont play it. It just seems some people are trying to force their morals and beliefs upon others which in my eyes is oppression, plain and simple.

Maybe others are talking about morals. I'm not. This is just cheap money for sex disguised as an MMO. It cheapens the genre.

A market for porn--cartoon or not--exists and forms a huge portion of internet traffic. I don't think Bill is concerned with putting an end to that like some oppressive religious zealots are. What I dislike about this game is the sale of cartoon nudity as an MMO poluting the MMO genre.

I think your libertarian objections are simplistic and misguided.

Of course sex sells, its in our DNA. To try to curb that is to go against our bery nature. What needs to be done is people need to be educated so they can make an informed decision about such things on their own.

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Bill... this is an incredibly naughty thread. >.> Feeding trolls with virgins is not the way to go - well, unless you want to up the sites clickablity and I don't blame yah. I bet you are entertained reading this thread, i know from experience baiting puts in a good mood!

I agree the game is in an incredibly bad taste but I am also laughing a little bit about it. What would make me laugh the most - Scarlet Blade actually being a good game.

Originally posted by Redemp

Wow , look at you folks getting so serious over a fun column. I agreed with Bill, without knowing the background it seemed like a blatant "sex sells" ; now that I know it stems from an anime I could care less. Different cultures and what not ...

Good show Bill, enjoyed the column .. the rest of you lighten up.

Hah.. sorry. Why exactly do you assume that in Asia young men are any different or smarter? The basic principle behind the anime this originates from is "sex sells". Your point is quite moot i am afraid.

Originally posted by nethaniah

Seriously Farmville? Yeah I think it's great. In a World where half our population is dying of hunger the more fortunate half is spending their time harvesting food that doesn't exist.

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Originally posted by Redemp

Wow , look at you folks getting so serious over a fun column. I agreed with Bill, without knowing the background it seemed like a blatant "sex sells" ; now that I know it stems from an anime I could care less. Different cultures and what not ...

Good show Bill, enjoyed the column .. the rest of you lighten up.

Hah.. sorry. Why exactly do you assume that in Asia young men are any different or smarter? The basic principle behind the anime this originates from is "sex sells". Your point is quite moot i am afraid.

Originally posted by nethaniah

Seriously Farmville? Yeah I think it's great. In a World where half our population is dying of hunger the more fortunate half is spending their time harvesting food that doesn't exist.

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Once again I am amazed. Games that literally throw blood at the screen and no complaints. But babes in very skimpy bikinis - hang the developers! Very American.

You know I have to agree with that point. If you're going to be ok with massive ammounts of gore and death then the polar opposite shouldn't be an issue. However I will add that I think it'd be only fair to have some nearly naked male characters in the game for lady gamers to play.

Then again I guess more people are ok with murder, slaughter, and genocide then they are with sexuality, but hey that makes for a healthy society dosn't it?

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considering how much sex sells we have in gaming in general for this game to have gotten so much negative attention for doing basically the same thing most games do but WAY WAY more seems a tad silly, but hey keep it up no publicity is bad publicity. The real question is .....is the game any good well i am gonna guess no.

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Originally posted by sacredfool

Originally posted by Redemp

Wow , look at you folks getting so serious over a fun column. I agreed with Bill, without knowing the background it seemed like a blatant "sex sells" ; now that I know it stems from an anime I could care less. Different cultures and what not ...

Good show Bill, enjoyed the column .. the rest of you lighten up.

Hah.. sorry. Why exactly do you assume that in Asia young men are any different or smarter? The basic principle behind the anime this originates from is "sex sells". Your point is quite moot i am afraid.

Actually my point's not moot, people are over reacting to an art style on a game that's based on another cultures ideals of what's acceptable( re: Not Taboo ). Did the owners of this particular rehash bank on "Sex sells" well that's pretty obvious but they certainly didn't have to go out of their way now did they.

All that's besides the point, which was ... people are taking this way to seriously; apparently including you.